It's the end of 2012 so I'm doing a best of year compilation...
I saw a bunch of good movies this year but my favorite was "Beasts of the Southern Wild". There once was a Hushpuppy and she lived with her daddy in the Bathtub. Other favorites were "Moonrise Kingdom" and "Searching for Sugarman".
I haven't gotten around to drinking moonshine yet but I did visit a couple of bourbon distilleries this year. My favorite was the Maker's Mark distillery in Loretto, KY. The drive there was great, the location is fabulous and the tour was top notch. The samples were good too. giggle. We even got to dip our own bottle at the end.
I did a few races this year. There was a half marathon in Murfreesboro, TN and a 200 mile relay race from Chattanooga to Nashville with some friends from work. These races were good but they can't compare with the Route 66 Marathon in Tulsa, OK. The run was actually fun, Tulsa was nicer than I imagined and I got to run with 2 of my BFF's. It was perfect.
Last but not least, I'm going with the Moon Pie as my favorite indulgence for 2012. It was a close contest with Goo Goo Clusters but the Moon Pie contains 3 of my favorite food groups - chocolate, marshmallow and mystery cake. Yum
Happy New Year
An alternative to road running is trail running. Trails are typically a very narrow (2 feet) path that winds through the woods. There is not any clearing involved. As a result, there is a lot of zig zagging and short uphills and downhills. All tree roots and rocks are left in place. 10 miles of road running is a piece of cake compared to 10 miles on a trail. However - the scenery is incredible on the trail.
There is a National Recreation area near me called Land Between the Lakes. It's not the most romantic name but that's basically what it is - a land mass between Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake. They have many trails and I checked it out yesterday. There is an 11 mile trail loop that is typically used for mountain bikes. It's a 70 mile drive but it was well worth it. I left home around 6:30am and hit the trail around 8:00am. The goal in trail running is to not trip on a root or a rock and to not hit your head on a low branch. I was successful on all counts. yay
I read an article this weekend about butter churns and it made me wonder how butter is made. I did a little research and it turns out to be relatively easy. I didn't dash out and buy a churn but I did utilize my mixer.
Butter is basically whipped cream that's been whipped too long. I started with 40 ounces of heavy cream and turned the mixer to high. It thickened, went to hard peaks, became coarser, turned yellow and then started flinging liquid. The liquid was buttermilk separating which signaled that it was done. I poured the mixer bowl into a strainer and then kneaded the butter until it was smooth and all of the buttermilk was squeezed out. From my 40 ounces of cream, I got 18 ounces of butter and 28 ounces of buttermilk. It took about 10 minutes.
It's cheaper and less hassle to buy sticks of butter but I may stick with the homemade stuff for awhile. There are no preservatives so I have about two weeks to make cookies, pancakes and such. Wish me luck...
